the president’s day

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The President and First Lady arrive for the 2013 National Medal of Arts and the National Medal of Humanities Medal ceremony



Attendees of the Summit of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders cheer as President Obama announces that the program will be renamed in honor of former South African President Nelson Mandela

Text of the President’s remarks here:

Next week, I’ll host a truly historic event -- the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, where nearly 50 Presidents and Prime Ministers attend from just about all of your countries. It will be the largest gathering any American President has ever hosted with African heads of state and government. And the summit reflects a principle that has guided my approach to Africa ever since I became President -- that the security and prosperity and justice that we seek in the world cannot be achieved without a strong and prosperous and self-reliant Africa.

And even as we deal with crises and challenges in other parts of the world that often dominate our headlines, even as we acknowledge the real hardships that so many Africans face every day, we have to make sure that we’re seizing the extraordinary potential of today’s Africa, which is the youngest and fastest-growing of the continents.

So next week’s summit will focus on how we can continue to build a new model of partnership between America and Africa -- a partnership of equals that focuses on your capacity to expand opportunity and strengthen democracy and promote security and peace. But this can’t be achieved by government alone. It demands the active engagement of citizens, especially young people.

And so that’s why, four years ago, I launched the Young African Leaders Initiative to make sure that we’re tapping into the incredible talent and creativity of young Africans like you. (Applause.) Since then, we’ve partnered with thousands of young people across the continent -- empowering them with the skills and the training and technology they need to start new businesses, to spark change in their communities, to promote education and health care and good governance.

And last year in South Africa, at a town hall like this in Soweto -- some of you were there -— I announced the next step, which was the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The objective was to give young Africans the opportunity to come to the United States and develop their skills as the next generation of leaders in civil society and business and government.

And the response was overwhelming. Across the continent, young men and women set out on a journey. In remote villages with no phones and Internet, they navigated the back roads, and they traveled by bus and train to reach larger towns and cities
-— just to get an online application for the program. One young woman from rural Zimbabwe took a five-hour bus ride, then another six-hour bus ride, then another seven-hour bus ride -- a two-day journey -— just to get her interview.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/07/28/remarks-president-town-hall-washington-fellowship-young-african-leaders

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A Kenyan woman listens to Pres Obama at today's Young African Leaders Initiative town hall in Washington
8:03 PM - 28 Jul 2014



President Obama arrives at a town hall during the Summit of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders





More: http://theobamadiary.com/2014/07/28/the-presidents-day-16/

Beautiful! Thank you Mr President.

BOG